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Remembering The County’s First Female Mail Carrier

Ethel Vandenburg Sawyer of Panama who in 1951 became the first female Star Route Mail Carrier in Chautauqua County is pictured in The Post-Journal on the day of her retirement in 1957. Also pictured is Jamestown Postmaster Oliver Palms. P-J file photo

“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”

In 1845, legislation establishing contracted mail service called for servicers to carry the mail with “celerity, certainty, and security.” The term “Star Route” was born when postal clerks became tired of handwriting those three words in ledgers and instead began substituting three asterisks -***.

After World War II, working women mostly held positions as secretaries, bank tellers, clerical workers, sales clerks and teachers.

In September of 1951, at the age of 56, a tiny, determined woman from Panama, New York, stepped forward and proudly pledged this oath, becoming the first female Star Route Mail Carrier in Chautauqua County.

“I, Ethel Vandenburg Sawyer, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter.”

At that time there were only a handful of women who had received this appointment from the United States Government and she may have been the first female Star Route carrier in New York state. That woman was my grandmother. She delivered bags of mail from post-office to post-office in southern Chautauqua County.

Grandma was a petite woman. She may have weighed as much as100 pounds and stood no taller than 5’2″. I remember her with light faded red hair which tumbled nearly to her waist. Other than bedtime, her hair was carefully braided and the single braid was somehow wound neatly at the lower back of her head and held in place with hair pins. Relaxed waves framed her face and pretty little wisps of hair would occasionally fall freely toward her bright blue eyes. In the early ’50s women rarely wore pants in public but she did not lose her femininity when she dressed for work. Her neatly pressed shirt was tucked at the waist of her lose fitting slacks and she sported the popular shoes of the day, 2″ heeled black oxfords.

Grandma married at 16 and gave birth to my mother at 18. Most women in the early ’50s were tasked with maintaining the home. In addition to raising a child, doing laundry, tending the garden, and canning vegetables, she spent much of her adult life as a wall paper hanger. Into each home, she hauled her tools of the trade: heavy wall papering boards, saw horses and ladders. The work involved multiple trips a day up the ladders to hang the wallpaper. This heavy work made her a physically strong woman. Strength she would need as a mail carrier.

My grandfather had the contract for the Star Route in 1951. During that winter he rolled his mail truck at the curve by the cemetery in Ashville. The truck was demolished in the accident and Grandpa was badly injured. But he told Grandma to immediately go to the Chevy dealer in North Clymer and purchase a brand new one. The big box cap was built and secured to the truck bed by Clifton Sweet at his garage in Panama.

Grandpa was never able to return to work. He lay at home in a hospital bed under an oxygen tent and my grandmother cared for him. (I believe she took over the route for a few days when he was in the hospital, but I do not know who had the route while Grandpa was at home.) When Grandpa died in the late summer of 1951, Grandma obtained her chauffer’s license and was ready to bid on the route.

She left her house at 6:30 each morning and drove a half an hour east to start her day at the City of Jamestown post office located at the northwest corner of Third and Washington Streets. At this main mail hub in Chautauqua County, she loaded mail bags for delivery stops heading west at Celeron, Lakewood, Ashville, Panama and North Clymer. She made the same stops on the return trip dropping heavy bags designated for each specific post office. Back in Jamestown at lunch time, she walked a couple of blocks for an inexpensive, hearty lunch at the YWCA. The afternoon trips were the same. On the return trip from Clymer she stopped daily at Sweet’s Garage in Panama and put 10 gallons of gas in her truck for $3. Her day ended at 6 with the final delivery at the Jamestown Post Office. She drove 135 miles a day.

Arriving home around 6:30, she had a light supper and went to bed early. It was a long hard work day but she never complained. She was proud of her position and performed it well.

Since she was a widow, she had to maintain her home. Winters were very challenging. She shoveled coal into her furnace in the morning, the evening and before bed. That particular part of Chautauqua County is known for high amounts of snowfall. She lived at the bottom of an embankment and shoveled snow from her long, steep driveway each morning. Her truck was too high to fit in the garage so she brushed it off and warmed it up before leaving. Sometimes when there were snow storms other people helped with the driveway. But she usually did it in the morning herself because she wouldn’t risk being late on her route.

Grandma used the snow scoop that Grandpa had designed years earlier. It was a large flat scoop about 4′ X 4′ with three sides. Two rods came up from the scoop and a third made a push bar across the top. John Samac, a local welder in Panama made it from sheet metal according to Grandpa’s design. With it, one could move a lot of snow in a short amount of time so it served the purpose well. I do not think anyone else in town ever had one.

Mondays were the heaviest days for her work. Nearly every home in the area had a copy of the large glossy Life magazine on its coffee table. It arrived by mail on Monday. Grandma refused any offer of help to carry those heavy mail bags into the post offices. It was her job and she was the one who was going to do it. There were always more and heavier bags at Christmas time also. Back then everyone mailed cards to everyone! There were not the package deliveries that we have today so she was also tasked with carrying gifts.

As a private contractor, Grandma often carried riders to Jamestown and back. Two women were daily passengers and had the privilege of sitting in the warm cab up front. Riders could pay $.25 to ride in the covered cap where they sat on a 2″ X 6′ board that fit across the back. If the seat was full, they would sit upon the heavy canvas mail sacks. Grandma supplied a heavy horsehair blanket to throw over their legs when it was cold. The doors were closed to the middle in the back, but riders could look through a window into the cab and out the front if they cared to know how far they were on the journey. Many boys from Panama considered it a big deal when they were old enough to ride the mail truck alone from Panama to Ashville to get a haircut. They caught a ride home when she drove back through.

Grandma was a pioneer for women in those times, breaking into a job traditionally reserved for men. She possessed determination, pride, and spunk. She was respected for her impeccable work ethic.

Upon her retirement in 1957, the Jamestown Post-Journal stated, “Undaunted by weather conditions, Mrs. Sawyer, has a record of always having been on time along her 135-mile route each day, and it is known people can set their watch by her arrival in each community from Jamestown to Clymer.”

Upon retirement Grandma paid cash for a brand-new turquoise and white 1957 Chevy Bel Air. She lived for 10 more years.

NOTE: In 1970, Star Routes were renamed “Highway Contract Routes,” though they are still commonly known by their original name. A Star Route mail delivery contract was traditionally awarded to the lowest bidder. If a person performed their duties well, that contract could be awarded repeatedly to the same person regardless of their bid.

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